Enkai's Lessons
by Opus the Penguin
Summary: Inuyasha finds himself locked in battle for the Tetsusaiga with Enkai of Haguro, a tengu with a nearly impossible mastery of swordsmanship. To make matters worse, Enkai is wielding another powerful sword, the legendary Kogarasumaru. This one is a stub.
1. The Stranger

            It came to pass that Inuyasha found himself traveling alone down a dusty country road.  In many ways he welcomed this return to solitude.  Although he had grown to enjoy the company of his companions, he often found himself wanting for time to reflect in solitude, and so he relished this opportunity to lose himself in his own thoughts.  

            As the miles trailed slowly out behind him and afternoon crept towards dusk, he became aware by and by of another figure some distance behind him.  He reached out with his superior senses and examined the interloper.  The rustle of garments, no more than a whisper in the wind due to the distance, was easily recognizable as the vestments of a monk, though the scent was not Miroku's.  Inuyasha allowed himself a irritated sigh and, not the least bit interested in parlaying with the stranger, quickened his already brisk pace.

            The rustling of the interloper's robes grew closer and closer, however, although Inuyasha could not hear the figure's breathing becoming burdened from what must have been an trying speed for even a monk.  After a time he chanced a glance over his shoulder and was startled to see his pursuer just a few feet behind him.

            The figure was a monk, although his robes, though obviously well-worn, were finer and more brightly adorned than those of any monk Inuyasha had encountered before.  Rather than a more traditional monk's staff he carried only a walking stick, although it had been attentively carved and was lacquered to an exquisite sheen.  The man had a shock of uncombed red hair which hung in unwashed strings in front of his eyes.  His weak, rounded chin was stubbled and dirty and his nose was rather long and obnoxiously crooked.  

            Inuyasha mentally processed all this, coming quickly to the conclusion that this monk must be lost and was probably going to ask to be taken to the next village.  This in mind, he prepared to put on a short burst of speed in order to put a more comfortable distance between himself and the stranger.  Just then, however, the monk called to him.

"Ho there, yokai!" the monk called after him in a deep but somehow squawking voice.

            Inuyasha threw the monk an icy look.  Yokai, a generic term for spirit creatures and demons, while not quite rude, was not exactly complimentary either.  Inuyasha gritted his teeth, realizing bitterly that the mood of the entire afternoon had been spoiled by this unsolicited escort.

"What do you want, monk?"  Inuyasha practically spat.

"Just to talk, yokai,"  replied the monk.  "Just to talk."

            Inuyasha's patience, already nearing its limits, reached its breaking point at the monk's profoundly insipid statement.  He bit his lip, thinking perhaps that if he could derail this conversation before it had the chance to really get going he could save himself at least some small trouble.

"Talk about what?" he growled, trying to sound as unfriendly, if not ferocious, as possible.

"About that marvelous sword." said the monk, smiling a narrow, humorless smile as he jabbed a finger at the Tetsusaiga.  

            The finger was tipped with a small, sharp claw.  The skin around the claw was black and leathery, and as Inuyasha watched the blackness seemed to spread like a bruise up the monk's arm, dirty black feathers springing from his skin.   The monk's face had twisted and reshaped itself into that of a crow, the long nose stretching and hardening into the bird's sharp beak.  A pair of shimmering wings, bizarrely like those of a hummingbird,  sprouted from his shoulders.  

The creature fixed its glassy, unblinking gaze on Inuyasha.

"Such a marvelous sword…" the tengu hissed.


	2. Inuyasha Against the Legendary Tengu

Inuyasha retreated a few steps as the tengu's illusion dissolved.  The creature glared at him, stepping back into a low, wide stance and raising its walking stick like a sword.  Inuyasha prepared himself, unsheathing the Tetsusaiga.  The gloom of sunset was briefly illuminated by the energy cast off by the blade as it transformed into its massive true form.  The tengu's glassy eyes widened, not in fear, but delight. 

"You carry far too magnificent a weapon, half-breed," the tengu said, its voice whispering in Inuyasha's mind even though the creature's beak didn't move.  "Prove to me that you are more worthy of it than I."

"You've got to be kidding me,"  Inuyasha growled.  "I don't even know you, and you to fight me over a sword?"

"You don't have to fight.  You may surrender the weapon if you wish." said the voice in Inuyasha's head.  "If you're perceptive enough to realize that a weapon of that caliber belongs in the hands of someone who can truly _master_ it, then I will happily accept it without taking your life."

"Hey, don't get me wrong.  I was just tryin' to give you one last chance to reconsider." snickered Inuyasha, hefting the Tetsusaiga onto his shoulder.     

            The tengu adjusted its grip on the walking stick ever so slightly, its face betraying no emotion.  Inuyasha prepared himself, setting his stance and swinging his sword to a ready position.  The tengu's voice reached into Inuyasha's mind, brushing coldly against the back of his consciousness like a chill breeze.

"Come."

Inuyasha leapt at the tengu, the Tetsusaiga slicing through the air in a murderous arc.  He allowed himself the faintest hint of a smile at the thought of the obnoxious tengu being split in two through the shoulder by the first blow.  This wasn't even a fight, it was just an annoyance.  But then something impossible happened.  There was a commotion of wings and arms from the tengu, and before Inuyasha even realized what was happening the Tetsusaiga was streaking uselessly past its target.  Pain flared in Inuyasha's right arm as the tengu rapped its stick sharply across his wrist, driving his arm sharply downward and auguring Tetsusaiga's blade into the ground.  Some hidden part of Inuyasha was secretly impressed.  The tengu had sidestepped and parried his attack at the wrist rather than the blade to avoid clashing with Tetsusaiga's full weight and force.

"Your wrist didn't break.  You must be very strong." the tengu said in Inuyasha's mind.  "But you're no swordsman."

"That's already getting old." Inuyasha snarled, whirling to face his enemy and swinging the Tetsusaiga in a vicious, sweeping blow.

            The tengu stepped forward quickly, casually blocking Inuyasha's elbow with the palm of its hand, stopping his attack before it could even truly begin.  Inuyasha dropped to one knee as tengu brought its stick painfully across the back of his knee.  The tengu strolled calmly around him, looking him from head to toe.   

"No swordsman at all…"  repeated the tengu almost sorrowfully.  

            Rage boiled in Inuyasha's heart at the sound of the creature's chiding.  Despite the ache in his leg, he found his feet and rushed forward with a another overheard swing, his inhuman body straining to put more speed into the attack.

"Will you shut up about…"  He sentence was cut short as butt of the tengu's stick drove upwards into his chin.  

            Inuyasha staggered backwards, spitting blood.  His vision was blurred and he wasn't entirely certain that he hadn't bitten off the end of his tongue.  The tengu seemed to have drawn another stick from within the walking stick.  _That doesn't make sense_, Inuyasha thought through his daze, but there it was.  The tengu had threaded its walking stick through its belt and was now wielding a smaller, thinner stick, very nearly a switch..

            Inuyasha made up his mind that this would be the final attack.  Even if the tengu shattered all of his ribs with that stupid stick, his next blow would find purchase.  He lunged forward, steeling himself be impaled on the end of tengu's stick, Tetsusaiga once again a steely blur streaking towards the enemy.

            Inuyasha suddenly realized something was wrong, and at the last second he threw all of his weight sideways, aborting his attack and rolling through dirt.  He was dimly aware of the tengu's weapon brushing against his chest just before he changed direction, but his mind was elsewhere, attending to another sense.  A familiar scent had filled the air: the scent of steel.

            As if in response, the illusion over the tengu's stick seemed to wash away, revealing a short, straight-bladed tachi.  The longer stick in the tengu's belt was the scabbard.  The weapon was double-edged, as they had been in olden times.   Inuyasha's eyes widened as he became dimly aware of something warm and sticky running down his stomach.  One edge of the tengu's sword was slick with blood.

"I am Enkai of Haguro, half-breed," the voice in Inuyasha's mind hissed softly. "and you have done what I had thought impossible.  You have felt the bite of my Kogarasu-maru and you still live."


	3. Clash of Blades: Tetsusaiga vs Kogarasum...

            Inuyasha wiped the blood from his mouth and smiled.  The wound on his chest was already closing thanks to his formidable constitution.  Still, this tengu was getting the better of him, and that would never do.  He was beginning to get frustrated.  But then again, he liked himself better when he was angry.  Standing erect and wiping even the smallest grimace of pain from his face, Inuyasha hefted the massive Tetsusaiga onto his shoulder and prepared himself.

"Why do you insist on continuing this charade?" asked Enkai.  "You are no match for me.  Even when Kogarasu-maru was sheathed, you could not defeat me."

"Will you get off the ego trip?"  Inuyasha shot back.  "All your talk is starting to give me a headache."

"Excuses already?"

            Inuyasha smirked.

"Fine then, keep talkin'.  It'll just make it even more satisfying when I slice that stupid beak off your face."

            Enkai dropped into a strange, low stance when Inuyasha had never seen before.  The tengu's shimmering wings fanned out behind him like a cloak, and for an instant Inuyasha thought it would take flight.  But Enkai remained perfectly still, not even his breath betraying him.  Even though the sunlight was fading fast as twilight closed in, the Kogarasu-maru cast off dazzling arcs of light that seemed to dance along the shadowy forms of the trees that lined the road.

_Another illusion_, Inuyasha thought.  _No…not an illusion, just a distraction, something the sword was made to do._

A tiny movement caught Inuyasha's eye.  Enkai was slowly shifting his grip on the sword, rotating the blade just a few degrees at a time.

_What the hell is he doing?_

            Just then Inuyasha was blinded by a flash of light.  He immediately realized Enkai had been adjusting the Kogarasu-maru so that the light it was reflecting shone directly into his face.  He staggered backwards, blinking back tears from the unnaturally brilliant reflection, and just managed the bring the Tetsusaiga in front of himself in time to deflect Enkai's thrust.

            The tengu wasted no time in recovering, bringing the deadly sharp blade of his sword up in a fast, vertical slash that Inuyasha was barely able to retreat from.  Inuyasha bounded backwards in long hops, trying to put enough distance between himself and Enkai to actually swing the Tetsusaiga, but the tengu was upon him each time, slashing at him with an impossibly fast series of attacks.  Inuyasha braced Tetsusaiga with both hands, using the flat of the blade as a shield.  The tengu was attacking in a simple pattern: upward slash, downward slash.  If he just had time to swing his sword, Inuyasha knew he could finish this.

            Using his own inhuman reflexes, Inuyasha lashed out with his claws and caught hold of Enkai's sword arm.  For a brief instant the tengu seemed to freeze in surprise, and Inuyasha felt a wave of triumph wash over him as he brought the Tetsusaiga to bear.  They were still too close for Inuyasha to affect a meaningful cut with Tetsusaiga's oversized blade, but that was unimportant.  He would be perfectly happy to splinter the crow demon's skull with the Tetsusaiga's hilt.

            Before Inuyasha could bring his weapon crashing down between his foe's eyes, Enkai dove forward, lunging at Inuyasha's face with his wickedly sharp beak and forcing him to abandon his attack to defend himself.  Crying out in surprise, Inuyasha batted Enkai away, the tengu's beak failing by centimeters to pluck his left eye from its socket.

"I didn't know you wanted to fight dirty."  Inuyasha jeered.  "Next time trying pinching me or kicking me in the shin."

            Enkai changed stances again, shifting the Kogarasu-maru to an underhand grip.  The sleeve of his robe was darkening with blood.  A handful of tears in the material revealed tiny, teardrop wounds from Inuyasha's claws..  Although his face was emotionless as ever, he sword arm had begun to tremor.  He was obviously surprised to have been wounded, probably angry with himself to boot.

            Inuyasha lunged forward, Tetsusaiga flashing before him.  The blade seemed lighter now that he was beginning to feel the energy of the fight.  Apparently the attack came at Enkai faster than he was expecting, because he blocked the attack squarely, staggering backwards from the force of the swing.  A tiny nick appeared on the blade of Kogarasu-maru.

"Well met, half-breed." Enkai's voice rasped in the back of Inuyasha's mind.  The quality of the voice had changed.  It was more hostile than before.  Flustered.

            A devilish grin crossed Inuyasha's face.  Soon Enkai would be giving off enough energy and emotion to create a wind scar.  Then there would be no mistake about the winner of the fight.

            Inuyasha swung again, the Tetsusaiga lighter still in his grasp, meeting one of Enkai's attacks in mid swing and dashing the much smaller Kogarasu-maru to one side.  The tengu stumbled, overextended by the force Inuyasha's parry, and nearly lost his balance.  Inuyasha shouted in triumph and raised his sword for a killing blow, thinking that perhaps he could finish this without even having to resort to the wind scar.

            Then something strange happened.  Enkai somehow managed to recover his balance and let out a piercing squawk, swinging a two-handed attack at the Tetsusaiga itself.  The two swords clashed squarely and seemed to react to one another, bathing both of their wielders in light.  Inuyasha was the taller and stronger of the two fighters, and for an instant it seemed the Kogarasu-maru would be knocked from the tengu's grasp.  Then the blade seemed to pierce Tetsusaiga's edge and Inuyasha looked on in shock as the demon sword reverted to its weaker form.  His muscles aching in desperation, Inuyasha shoved Enkai away.

"Kogarasu-maru," Enkai hissed gleefully. "Is also known as the 'companion cutter' because it slices so cleanly through other blades that even a sword laid next to it may be severed."

"That's real fascinating, pal." Inuyasha snarled. "I'm sure I'll learn a lot more about that sword once I pry it from your cold, dead hands."

"You can't be foolish enough to think you can slay me with your sword in that condition."

"In this condition, maybe not."  Inuyasha said, focusing his energy on Tetsusaiga.  Satisfied, he swung the sword to one side and let it transform back to its more powerful self. "But in _this condition…."_

"How can that be?"  Enkai shrieked, his voice a burning hot in Inuyasha's mind.

"Tetsusaiga is made of sterner stuff than the knickknacks you've probably broken with that bottle opener."

            That was all it took.  Enkai's anger flared around him, producing a current of energy that buffeted against Inuyasha's own.  A white hot light shone between the two currents, and it was upon this, the wind scar, that Inuyasha prepared to focus his next attack.  He took a firm stance, raising Tetsusaiga high over his head.  It took him only an instant to find his target, and the Tetsusaiga streaked downward, shearing through the wind scar.

            And then it was gone.  The wind scar vanished, fading out of existence just before the attack could be completed.  Tetsusaiga dug ungracefully into the dirt, and Inuyasha looked up in surprise.  Enkai had sheathed his sword, concealing all of his warrior energy with the blade of his weapon.  Without that energy, there could be no collision of powers and therefore no wind scar.

"No tricks, half-breed.  No more games."

           Although the tengu was not in a drawing stance, Inuyasha knew what was about to happen.  As Enkai raced forward, he struggled to pull the Tetsusaiga free of the dirt.  The sword seemed impossibly heavy again.  Out of the corner of his eye, Inuyasha caught a glint of light as Kogarasu-maru was pulled from its scabbard.  He didn't even have time to raise his hands.

****

            Enkai remained in his stance for a long moment after the cut was completed.  His mentor had once told him that the brief reflection after an attack was just as important as the attack itself.   There was no blood on Kogarasu-maru.  For all the trouble the half-breed had given him, he had finished the fight with his favorite attack, and he had done so perfectly.

            The tiniest of cuts, less than an inch long, appear on the left side of the half-breed's throat.  He took a step forward, his eyes wide with shock.  His hands slipped free of demon sword.  Then came the torrent of blood.

            Enkai had always thought that blood spraying from such a tiny cut on the throat sounded beautiful.  Artistic.  Not at all unlike the sound of rain blowing through the trees on a cool fall evening.  He closed his eyes and relished the sound.

            The half-breed seemed to bleed forever, staining his long white hair and painting a large swath of grass red before he finally sank to knees and, at last, slumped to the ground.  Enkai allowed himself a small bow to the half-breed.  He had died falling forward, like a true warrior.  He deserved at least that much.

            The tengu meditated on this for a while under a nearby tree before claiming the half-breed's extraordinary weapon and making off for home.

****

            The soul-gatherer felt a soul disconnect somewhere along the road far below.  A powerful soul.  Curious, it allowed itself to sink along the wind currents, its serpentine body coiling like a silver ribbon as it made its way to investigate.  It found the soul hovering near a bloodied body on the side of the road.  The carcass was fresh, not even set upon by animals, and the soul was dazzling with the sheer amount of energy it contained.         

            After a brief chase, the soul-gatherer managed to corral the soul and capture it.  Then it turned to the north and flew off towards the forest, eager to show this great prize to its mistress.  


End file.
